rodndtube.com's (OLD) MyPaipoBoards Forums. Reading but no posting on the OLD forums.

[Poobah]

I sometimes get crazy thoughts to make a handboard that is wider than it's length. Tentatively named the Hammerhead model in my mental drawing board. Now I see it's already a water toy...with adjustable bouyancy. How cool.

http://www.mindwalking.com/html/glide_rider.html

[batboard]

when they say propulsion system, do they mean it has some kind of engine, it doesn't appear to, is the thrust just from yourself pushing off ? What if you could attach something like this to the underside of a paipo ? or is that just damn silly.

[Nels]

looks like that thing has its own external propulsion system...

[MTbarrels]

My guess is that one adjusts the buoyancy of the wing so that it is positive, but not so great that one is unable to dive with it. Once submerged, the buoyancy of the wing (if properly angled upward) acts to cause the wing to move forward in order to rise to to the surface. In essence, one is gliding upward in the water, in an analogous manner to gliding downward (in a glider) when one's buoyancy (in air) is (as is usually the case) negative.

With care, the same effect can be readily observed (and beneficial) with a bodyboard or a paipo board during the second half of a duck dive--although the effect is reduced somewhat by the smaller aspect ratio (width/length) and the less refined "foil" shape (to put it mildly) of the body/paipo board.

Version 2 of my series of hydrofoil paipo boards--which had a large, foam-cored delta wing--had considerable buoyancy in the main foil. If submerged to where the hull was in contact with the water and the foils submerged, then released while properly inclined, it would shoot forward, accelerating like a rocket (and attaining approximately running speed) as the main foil rose toward the surface.

MTB
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MTbarrels

[AM_Glass]

Does it bother anyone that the product has been photoshoped into the picture? Kinda wonder if it works at all...

[batboard]

What I kind of find interesting about this kids toy is the idea that they borrowed from the manta ray shape for the deisgn. Looking at hyrdofoils, you notice that they are getting to look more fish shaped than the ones from the past.